Soul Eater: Monotone Princess: The Movie
by Ynot7
Summary: Soul Eater The Movie. Based on the video game, Monotone Princess, and set after the anime. The DWMA faces a new enemy in the form of the witch Ponera, the mysterious Grimoire and their evil organization. Badass action, humor, some romance and lots of cool moments for all the underused characters (especially Mifune) Enjoy! (:
1. Chapter 1

The laughing moon. A familiar, if unsettling, sight. Tonight, however, it was more unsettling than usual, due largely to the presence of blood dripping from the moon's chuckling grin, as this was a sign that blood had been spilled.

Now, normally, when a person sees this blood, they might wonder whose blood was spilled and feel bad for the unfortunate soul. Seldom, would someone stop and think about the blood once it reached the ground. The moon, though, knew the scenario well. It knew where the blood would hit the ground and the sound it would make as it dripped.

_Drip. Drop. Drip. Drop._

The sound had a kind of rhythm to it, almost like your faucet when it springs a leak. Yet, tonight, as the moon observed, the blood was not alone in making this music. Tonight, it was joined by two sets of footprints, one following the other to the beat of the dripping, as if in a dance.

Yet, this was no dance. For scythemeister Maka Albarn and her partner, Soul Eater Evans, this was one soul closer to the long-awaited goal of elevating Soul to Deathscythe status.

_"Deep breaths"_ Maka told herself as the target ahead of them ran, or rather, galloped, at a steady pace through the dark forest.

As the pain in Maka's chest grew, she began to notice that the target was moving farther away from, not closer to them. Wanting to end the pursuit, an idea entered her mind.

"Hey" Soul spoke out, "you thinkin' what I'm thinkin?"

Maka grinned and nodded. In one swift motion, Maka screeched to a halt and used the momentum from her running to fling Soul forward in a horizontal slash, severing the legs of their opponent's horse, sending the rider and the _package _he was carrying tumbling to the ground, reducing the demonic steed to a floating red soul, and lastly, embedding Soul in a nearby tree (much to the demon scythe's annoyance).

"Cool move, Maka" Soul quipped as Maka pulled him from the tree, flashing him a small grin. "Hey, heads up" He spoke as the figure behind them stirred.

Maka turned to face their opponent, determination burning brightly in her eyes (though not as brightly as the flames from their opponent's Jack-O-Lantern head).

"Headless Horseman, for your crimes of murder and aiding the witch, Ponera, in her madness inducing experiments, I'm here to claim your soul."

The Horseman let loose a booming laugh, his head's flames flashing as he chuckled. "Ha-ha-ha-ha! Oh, really? Well you can try, but I think my friends might object to that."

Suddenly out from the shadows came three new monstrous figures to join their headless friend.

The Horseman spoke, drawing his sword. "Master Thief Lupin, The Flying Dutchman, and Dreamkiller Frey D. Sadoko, all enemies of the Academy, and all are here to make this fight much more interesting. So, are you still bent on taking my soul?"

"Heh" Maka grinned "All of you in one place? Good. That means the Academy will conveniently be able to scratch all of you off its' list at the same time."

As she spoke, though, an unseen figure crouched in the shadows of the nearby trees. Silently, it reached into it's quiver and took out an arrow. Taking aim at Maka's head, it stretched the string of its' bow and let go, sending the arrow flying toward Maka Albarn's skull.

_BLAM. BLAM. _The arrow had been broken in midair by a gunshot. Maka, and the others turned to see the source of the shot.

Standing on a nearby rock, was the dark-haired figure of Death the Kid, his guns gleaming in the moonlight.

"Liz, Patty, excellent work on stopping that arrow." Kid complimented.

"Well, thanks Kid" Liz responded, "but I don't see why you had to fire both of us for just one arrow."

"For symmetry, of course. Really Liz, you should know better by now." The young shinigami corrected.

"Ha-ha! Yeah, you really should big sis!" Giggled Patty.

Liz sighed. "You know, what's really scary is that I completely agree with you."

"Hold on a minute" Soul interrupted "we're here and you're there so where's..."

"YAHOO! Black Star Big Wave!"

A flash of light and the bow wielding assailant was flung from the trees, landing at the feet of Maka and the archer's companions.

"Now, that was an amazing entrance, wasn't it Tsubaki?" The blue-haired assassin asked as he stepped out of the forest, flexing his muscles and grinning in a pose.

"Uh yeah, amazing Black Star." The dark arm replied while thinking to herself _"Though it would've been more dignified if you hadn't had to ask me that."_

"So" Black Star continued "now that, thanks to me and my awesomeness, your buddy The Hood" (referring to the green-cloaked, hooded archer who was currently joining the other targets) "had to come out of his hiding spot, whaddya say we get this show on the road and start kickin' some ass?"

"Ha-ha-ha" The Horseman laughed smugly, pointing his sword at Black Star, his flames burning brighter, casting eerie shadows across the surrounding area. "Alright, but remember, I've taken heads younger and cockier than yours!"

And like that, the battle began. It was a flash of shooting and slicing, dodging and kicking that would be very hard for an outside observer to keep track of. Black Star found himself avoiding both the Horseman's sword strokes and the flames that shot from his Jack-O-Lantern, while Kid took to settling an old score with the Flying Dutchman as he also avoided the more deadly accuracy from the Hood's arrows. Maka, meanwhile was busy spinning Soul to fend off the twin guns of Lupin and the claws of Frey D. Sadoko (a tactic that combined with the super-size chili-cheese hotdog Soul had for lunch to make the scythe quite sick, but that's a different story).

It didn't take long for the tide of battle to turn in the Academy students' favor. A single dodge of the Horseman's flame attack by Black Star led to the Flying Dutchman being reduced to a single red, floating soul, (much to the Horseman's embarrassment) leaving only the Hood for Kid to deal with.

The Hood was a tough opponent, jumping and kicking, while firing arrows like a machine gun. Kid actually sweat a little before he managed break his opponent's bow with Liz while placing Patty under the Hood's jaw before pulling the trigger.

_Blam._ With that sound, Kid's fight was over with.

Meanwhile, Maka had managed to slice through both of Lupin's guns, leading the cowardly thief to abandon Frey. D Sadoko.

By herself, Sadoko was quickly overwhelmed. In one stroke, Sadoko was bisected and joined the Flying Dutchman and the Hood in being reduced to a floating red soul.

_"Maybe I can still make a clean getaway" _Lupin thought to himself as he attempted to pick up the Horseman's dropped package, a green cocoon-like object, before he felt a sudden pressure on it, preventing him from doing so. Looking forward, he spotted a black shoe pressed on top of the cocoon. Glancing up, he saw that it belonged to Death the Kid, who was currently pointing Patty at his head.

"Oh no you don't", Kid spoke sternly, "you're not getting away this time."

_Blam._ Kid pulled the trigger, leaving only the Horseman to fight.

With another jolt from Black Star's wavelength, the Horseman found his back slumped up against a tree as he gazed forward to see the Academy's students all assembled against him.

Picking himself up, the Horseman chuckled a little to himself before sheathing his sword.

"Heh-heh, alright, I know when I'm beaten, so I won't drag this out any longer." He said, taking the Jack-O-Lantern from the top of his neck and placing it between his hands.

"What are you...?" Maka questioned.

"I guess I just have to accept my defeat. The fate of a fallen warrior. Be warned, though, there are much more frightening forces than me at work tonight."

Then, before anyone could respond, he pressed on both sides of his Jack-O-Lantern until it crumbled to pieces, causing his body to disintegrate, leaving only a brightly burning flame in its' place.

"Goodbye, students." His voice sounded before even his flame burned out and one final red soul was left in his place.

A long silence settled on the scene before Kid spoke up. "What do you suppose this thing is, anyways?" he said, gesturing to the cocoon on the ground.

"Who knows?" Black Star responded, somewhat indifferent.

"Whatever it is, we should collect it and these souls and get back to Sid and Mifune." Maka replied. "I'm sure Professor Stein will be able to figure it out."

"Let's change the subject to something more interesting." Black Star blurted. "Like me and how awesome I was in that fight, for example."

"Oh, really?" Soul responded, smirking. "You mean the fight where me and Maka collected one soul, Kid and the sisters collected three, and you collected zero?"

At that, Black Star looked away, and let out a frustrated snort. "Let's just get going." Black Star replied, changing the subject as he picked up the cocoon.

Amused, Maka let out a small giggle, unaware that two figures observed them from a nearby clifftop.

"Some fight, wasn't it, Grimoire?" The first figure, a pale, dark haired woman, in a white dress says in a somewhat childish voice.

"Yes, it was." The second figure, a tan-skinned man wearing a gray plaid golf cap, jeans, and a white undershirt, replied, his eyes glowing red. "And the best part was that everything went as planned. Our minions put up enough of a fight that the Academy won't suspect what our real intentions were. Soon the cocoon will be in place and we'll be able to observe our test subject in action."

"Speaking of action", Ponera interjected, "I'd love to see some more of that blue-haired boy, he was as cute as a bug in a rug." She said, nuzzling the small, pink ant-like stuffed animal in her arms.

Amused, Grimoire replied "Oh, don't worry you'll be seeing more of them, so long as our plans continue. Heh-heh, it's funny really."

Ponera gave Grimoire a confused look.

Grimoire continued, "You see, they thought that Asura was the source of madness, but the real source, as they're about to learn, is the human heart."

At this, both of the pair smiled smugly, unaware that they too, were being observed. Their observer, the yellow, chuckling one with blood dripping from its' mouth simply thought to itself _"Oh, the stories I could tell."_

* * *

**And that's chapter one! I hope you liked it.**** Also, to answer any questions you might have, those characters at the end were villains from Monotone Princess (In case ya didn't know) and the Hood was basically a kishin Robin Hood. Also, to fans of my other work, Crona will make a prominent appearance in this story, but he won't be the main focus as I want to grow as a writer by writing about other characters, though he's still my fav. Also, PLEASE LEAVE A REVIEW. I cannot say how much it annoys me when people like or dislike my work, but stay silent. I need reviews so I can improve, so please be courteous. Anyways, I hope to have the next chapter up in about a week. Til then, ciao!**


	2. Chapter 2

Mifune's life had not gone as he expected. Having gone from a wandering ronin to a hitman for mobsters, to the guardian of a young witch, to a servant for the heretic witch Arachne, to a teacher at the DWMA and a guardian of order (and mentor to a student whose father he killed), his life had taken many unexpected turns. The latest of these turns, however, had put him here. On the far edge of an isolated village in Romania, in the middle of the night.

Perching himself on the grass near a large stone arch, the samurai's thoughts drifted to how his life had been since its' latest unexpected turn. It had felt odd, to say the least, having the students refer to him as "Mr. Mifune", to say nothing of how awkward it was to fight alongside troops who he'd been killing not to long ago. Then there was the matter of Angela.

Being a teacher meant that Angela was often left in the care of the school's secretary, a woman of many talents, but being a babysitter was not one of them. In just the first week at the Academy, Angela had managed to sneak off and wreck Stein's lab (Stein was not amused), made it so Kilik couldn't do resonance practice because she'd managed to get both the Pots join her in a game of tag, got a scissors and snipped Ox's hair and one of Maka's pigtails (though Maka didn't go catatonic for half a day, unlike Ox), scribbled on Kid's suit with a magic marker (Kid soon joined Ox in a coma), keyed Soul's motorcycle, mastered invisibility well enough to scare Crona into a corner, messed up Liz's nail painting, and finally, interrupted one of Black Star's speeches by kicking him in the balls, yet again (though Mifune didn't hear many complaints about that, except by Black Star). Even now, little drops of embarrassment formed on Mifune's head as he recalled his last call to Angela and how she'd stolen Lord Death's mask and proclaimed herself the new Lord Death.

Still, there were positives. Having a place to stay where the occupants weren't all cultists bent on world domination was a definite improvement. Also, being near people who he didn't suspect of wanting to use Angela as collateral in order to force him to fight for them was definitely a plus. Lord Death had even agreed to help (with the aid of an anonymous witch living in Death City) curb the influence of magic on Angela. Now that he thought about it, being called "Mr. Mifune" wasn't so bad, really. Plus, watching Angela just playing tag with other kids was kind of nice, even if it was a nightmare to clean up after. Mifune smirked a little at the memory.

"Mifune!" a stern voice called, bringing Mifune out of his thoughts. The samurai glanced up to see the blue figure of Sid the zombie hastily beckoning to him from a nearby tree clearing. "Black Star and the others have just come back! Plus, they have the package with them, so we should go meet up with them, since I never was the kind of man to keep people waiting!"

Rising to his feet, Mifune gathered his swords, thinking to himself about how Black Star would probably behave and wondering whether or not he should count him as a positive or a negative. Deciding not to contemplate that problem, Mifune picked up the pace and headed toward Sid and the rest of the group.

Gathered near a ledge overlooking the pathway into the nearby town, was the group of Sid, Azusa, the main seven, and about 30 DWMA troops. Of course, no one in the group drew more attention than Black Star, who was currently giving a speech, listing all the gods he'd surpassed (because Tsubaki made the mistake of watching a documentary on ancient religions while he was in the room, but that's another story).

"Still haven't changed, have you Black Star?" Mifune remarked, smirking a bit as he played with the piece of wheat in his mouth. Taking notice of the samurai, Black Star turned to Mifune, his grin becoming even larger (which no one thought humanly possible). "Of course not Mifune, why would anyone want to change perfection?"

**"Enough." **A stern voice interrupted. The others looked to see the serious face of Azusa Yumi. "We will cease this nonsense and return to the topic at hand." She commanded, reaching up to touch the frame of her glasses. "Or do I need to insist?" She continued.

A suddenly very nervous and very quiet Black Star simply shook his head. "No maim."

Mifune thought to himself, "She's even found a way to keep Black Star quiet. Maybe _I_ should ask _her _for some training...or start wearing a pair of glasses."

His thoughts were interrupted as Sid began their briefing. "From what we know so far, reports began coming in about a week ago of people in the village of Nebun acting strangely, as though they were under the influence of madness. We sent some field agents to investigate, but by the time they got here, almost the entire village had been infected, so we quarantined it."

"So, what does any of this have to do with the witch, Ponera?" Maka questioned.

"Well, shortly before the outbreak started, there were reports of a witch being sighted in the town, fitting Ponera's description, along with a mysterious man carrying some sort of spell book, who both seemed to be studying those people affected by the madness. I never was the kind of man to be thick-headed or believe in coincidence, so I'd say those two are probably responsible."

"What about those freaks we met earlier?" Black Star snorted, somewhat bored.

"I'll take that question Sid." Azusa cut in. "After the battle with Arachnophobia, pieces were found missing from the morality manipulation machine. At roughly the same time, some of Ponera's henchman were spotted leaving the scene. Later, our intelligence spotted the Horseman heading toward this area, carrying some sort of package. Since I'm also not a great believer in coincidence and since we'd already requested your assistance, you were sent after him. I should finish by stating that it's our belief that they're somehow using parts gathered from Arachne's machine to induce this madness. Naigus was inside, gathering intel, when some interference caused her radio to be disrupted, but not before she told us to meet her at the town cathedral in about one hour."

"Then, what action are we going to take?" Kid inquired. "Yeah! What's the plan?" Black Star chimed in, earning him another silencing glare from Azusa.

Mifune stepped forward. "First you should know, that we've had that thing you recovered sent back to Professor Stein's lab at the Academy. Second, since we can't just plow through and kill these villagers, we'll sneak in using the villages' hidden sewer systems, which we mapped with Azusa's help. We'll all meet up with Naigus at the cathedral, hopefully she'll be able to give us some insight on where Ponera's hiding. Third, and finally, be on the lookout for some of Ponera's other henchmen. I know some of them personally, and they're not easy opponents."

"Hmph. Like that means much to me, I'll plow through em' all just the same." Black Star interrupted.

Annoyed, Mifune continued. "The first is a giant called Kill Bell, and from what some of the escaping villagers have told us, he used to be considered the town's personal freak, the one everyone avoided, whether he did anything wrong or not" Mifune spoke, a hint of disgust in his voice, "that is, until Ponera got a hold of him and started inciting him to attack and kill the villagers that attempted to leave." He continued, "Next is Alone, a werewolf and an immortal like Free. He began craving power and eventually wandered onto the Path of the Demon, feeding off innocent souls. The result was that he now has greater attack power, but he's mortal, so he can be killed, though I doubt it's easy."

Mifune's face became more serious as he spat out the wheat in his mouth. "The last one, though, is the toughest. A swordsman named Nals, called the Unbreakable Blade. I worked with him a few times. The last thing I'd heard of him was that he abandoned the Path of the Warrior and began consuming souls to increase his attack power. He's not like most kishin eggs, though, he retains his human shape and intelligence, due to an extreme level of mental discipline he's maintained. He's not someone to underestimate."

"Alright," Sid finished, "everyone take separate routes to the cathedral so we don't draw attention, while Azusa stays her to keep in contact with the Academy. Be tough, be smart, and please don't get killed."

Before Black Star could make another comment, Tsubaki placed a hand over his mouth, joining the others in nodding seriously before they departed.

Sid turned from the group to face Mifune, who was currently watching the group split up. "Thinking about something, samurai?" Sid inquired.

Mifune turned to face Sid, smirking a little. "Oh, I was just thinking that my life hasn't gone the way I expected."

Sid just blankly stated, "I'm a zombie, so that doesn't mean much to me."

Mifune simply sweatdropped in response. "Something else I didn't expect." He thought to himself, unaware of the silent witness to this conversation...a small red ant.

* * *

"Kid, have I ever told you that you take us to the nicest places?" The eldest Brooklyn devil commented, annoyed at the smell of sewage currently occupying the air space.

"In my defense, Liz, things could be worse" the young shinigami responded, currently squinting his eyes to see in light provided by the small flashlight in his pocket, as he focused steering his skateboard through the narrow sewer tunnels, above a small river of sewage "for example, I could have forgotten to bring along Beelzebub and then I'd have to have one of you carry me, so my clothes wouldn't get soiled."

A vein throbbed in Liz's forehead. "Why do I not find that comforting?"

Over in Kid's other hand, the youngest Thompson simply giggled.

After that, there was a long silence, save for the sound of Beelzebub's jets as Kid's thoughts drifted elsewhere.

"Hey, Kid?" Liz asked, her voice holding a concerned tone.

"Hmm?" Kid responded, somewhat distracted.

"You're still thinking about what happened when your lines connected, aren't you?"

Kid sighed. "It's not just the fact that I was actually symmetrical for once, as though that weren't enough. It's that power unlocked and those cracks that I heard appeared on Dad's mask." Kid's eyes shifted. "Plus, there's something else."

"What?"

"A remark Asura made when he was fighting my father. Do you remember when he said-"

"Hey, look!" Patty interrupted.

Startled a little, Kid and Liz looked ahead to see a small manhole cover at the roof of the tunnel.

"According to the map Azusa gave us, this should be where we get out." Kid stated, pushing the cover up.

Carefully peering out from beneath the cover, Kid strained to see in the bright light that was currently shining in his face. Pushing the cover up until it fell flat on the floor. Putting away Beelzebub, Kid looked to see that the tunnel had led to what seemed to be a well decorated theater.

"Hmm...a theater, if I weren't on a mission, I might catch a show, provided the choreography was perfectly symmetrical, of course." The shinigami fondly stated, stepping out from under the blinding stage light and admiring the alignment of the crystal chandeliers and red velvet curtains."

"Oooh, a theater!" Patty burst out, excitement bubbling over in her voice. "Does this mean we can catch a cool action movie when we get done?"

"Not that kind of theater, Patty." Liz corrected.

"What a minute" Kid blurted out, his eyes widening as he came to a conclusion. "If the town's been abandoned, then who left on these lights?"

As Kid spoke he didn't notice the silent figure, crouching behind him, readying it's blade to cleave at his neck. The figure took a silent breath, then sliced.

"Kid, look out!" Liz warned.

Alerted, Kid maneuvered Patty to block the swordsman's blade. There was a _clang _as the blade met the steel of Kid's gun, followed by a volley of shots, which the figure expertly dodged.

A thick silence hung in the air as Kid stared down his opponent. The figure before him was a tall, somewhat pale man, with medium length dark blue hair, brown eyes, dark boots, coat, gloves, and jacket, with a white Victorian-style shirt underneath and, most strikingly, a series of belts running across his face and one of his arms, which seemed to be attached to the rapier blade he was currently pointing at Kid.

"I believe you've heard of me" he spoke, his icy voice breaking the silence. "I am known as Nals, the Unbreakable Blade, and I'm here to claim your life, reaper."

"Really." Kid spoke, narrowing his eyes as he took his mortal sin stance. "Do try."

* * *

**Okay, that's it until next chapter. Sorry if it took too long to write and I hope it was** **fun to read. In case your wondering, Nals, Alone and Kill Bell are all characters from Monotone Princess, so if you know the game, you should be familiar with them. I should have the next chapter up in about 2 weeks. Till then, please remember to REVIEW, since I really want to know whether I'm pleasing anyone with this or not. Ciao for now!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Okay, before you get started, I want you to know that Kid's fight with Nals will be in the next chapter. However, this chapter will be about what happened with that cocoon from chapter 1 and will feature Crona making his cameo appearance. Sorry, if I've caused any frustration by leaving Kid on a cliffhanger for 2 more weeks-Hey put that gun down!-but what happens in this chapter is important to the plot of the next chapter. So, let us begin!**

* * *

Crona did not know how to deal with things. This was no secret. Anyone who knew him was familiar with some of the things that would send him into a corner for several minutes. Loud noises, gory scenes in horror movies, people trying to find out what his "true gender" (which had to do with the time Patty had jumped him in Maka's bathroom and attempted to give him a pat-down, but that's a different story) were some of these things. Spending the night in Professor Stein's lab was another one. Walking to Stein's lab in the middle of the night, the moon not helping his mood by laughing creepily as ever, Crona found himself recalling the events that led to this latest round of paranoia.

It began after the battle with Asura. Maka had insisted that Crona move in with her, Soul, and Blair. Things had been fine for the most part. Maka, of course, enjoyed having one of her best friends living close to her (though she could've done without Ragnarok's manners and appetite). Blair had also taken to Crona's presence quite well and often rubbed up against him in cat form, which Crona quite liked (barring the incident where Crona saw Blair in her naked human form and fainted). Even Soul, who, while never being the closest of friends with Crona, despite holding nothing against him, had come to enjoy not being the only guy in the apartment (which meant that Blair wouldn't be trying to smother him all the time).

It had worked out well for the most part...that is, until, shortly before Maka and Soul had left with the others for a mission, Blair had decided to throw a "little" party in the apartment and had decided to invite a "few" people. A few, meaning a bunch of customers and staff from Chupa Cabra's and a little, meaning a wild blowout that completely wrecked the apartment. Needless to say, Maka was not pleased (on a side note, it was probably one of the only times, if not, the first time Maka had chopped another girl).

Despite Blair apologizing like crazy and using her magic to help fix the mess, Maka didn't trust her to behave herself with just Crona in the apartment with her and Crona had grown close with Marie, who was more than happy to help Crona out. So, it was decided that Crona would stay with Stein and Marie while the others were away.

All of this led to the current predicament that Crona didn't know how to deal with, the thought of being dissected by Professor Stein. While he knew Stein had forgiven him for the incident with the snake, he couldn't shake the idea that Stein would want to study him while he was sleeping, drawing blood, taking skin, organs..."Crona!" A friendly voice called, jarring him out from his thoughts. He looked up to see the smiling face of Marie Mjolnir, standing next to the entrance to Stein's lab, waving at him.

"I guess it's not all that bad." He thought to himself, smiling and giving a little wave back as he approached the door.

Once he reached the entrance, Marie wrapped his shoulders in a hug, earning a small squeak and a light blush from Crona as he tried to ignore Ragnarok's internal remarks about her cleavage.

Marie soon drew back to look at Crona. "So how've you been Crona?" She asked tenderly.

"Oh, uh, I've been okay Ms. Marie. So...how's Professor Stein?"

At this, Marie gave a slight frown. "Oh, Frank's been wrapped up in his work lately. A little while ago, he got some kind of cocoon from Maka and the others, which he's supposed to analyze and he hasn't left the lab since. Anyways, I've got to head out to do some last minute grocery shopping. While I'm gone, you can get some sleep in the spare upstairs bedroom. Oh, and tell Ragnarok that if he gets hungry, he can help himself to whatever's in the fridge, just try and keep from making a mess." Marie explained, walking away from the lab. "I'll see you when I get back Crona!" Marie called, waving.

Crona shyly waved back before opening the door to Stein's lab. Being very timid, Crona was unnerved by the sudden darkness of the lab, so he decided to flip on the lights, a move he soon regretted. He was soon met by what appeared to be two gleaming yellow eyes.

Crona let out an "Eep!" of fright before running to a nearby corner, covering his head as though it would protect him.

"Um...hi Crona?" The somewhat confused voice of a certain mad scientist let out.

Turning around, Crona realized it was just Professor Stein, the glint the lights reflecting off his glasses. Crona sweat dropped a little at himself as he stood up from his corner. "Oh, hi Professor Stein." Crona nervously greeted the professor, his mind struggling to find some topic for breaking the ice, before noticing the bags under Professor Stein's eyes.

"A-are you okay? You look tired." Crona managed to squeeze out, hoping he didn't sound boring or intrusive.

"Oh, these?" Stein replied, rubbing his eyes. "I've been so busy trying to gather research to help out Maka and the others that I haven't been able to get any sleep in the past several days."

"Oh." Crona let out, unsure of what else to say.

"Anyways, right now I need to study this liquid sample I took from this cocoon Maka and the others obtained awhile ago." Stein explained, gesturing from the syringe in his right hand to the large white cocoon sitting on a nearby metal gurney. "I'll be downstairs in the lab if you need me. Don't hesitate to call." Stein advised, walking down the stairs and out of sight.

Standing alone, in the living room, Crona began to note the heaviness of his own eyelids as his thoughts drifted towards that bedroom Marie mentioned earlier.

* * *

_Scriiiit. _That was the sound that could be heard cutting through the silence of the dark house like a knife through butter as a certain pale cocoon burst open, spilling fluids onto the floor, a large, pale, spiny form climbing out, simplistic thoughts echoing across the creature's mind.

"Madness wavelength. Locate, feed off more." Images of a certain mad scientist doing dissections and a certain meister and black blob consuming souls filling it's brain. "Absorb, destroy, destroy!" It stomped through the darkened lab, intent on crushing anything that stood in it's path.

* * *

Now, another well known fact about Crona was the fact that he was far from a sound sleeper, his life providing enough nightmare material to fill several horror movies, meaning he seldom slept all through a single night. However, ever since standing up to Medusa, Crona found himself being able to sleep much easier, he even began looking forward to it, as his dreams were now filled more often with Maka and the others, rather than memories of his old life.

Still, that didn't mean Crona never had a bad night. Tonight was one such night. He'd already woken up three times tonight, tossing and turning, thoughts of fear and madness swirling through his mind as though something was yanking them from his subconscious, feeding off them, almost.

Finally, he awoke the fourth time with a sigh, stepping out of bed and slipping into his shoes, deciding to get some water for his suddenly dry throat.

Nervously, Crona made his way down the steps to the lab's first floor, the eerie quiet and darkness of the house reminding him more of the tomb from when he'd watched the Mummy with the others, then of a place where people live.

_Scriiit. _Crona froze, a sick feeling settling in his stomach as the noise ripped through the black night. As he strained his ears to hear more, a familiar _splortch_ rang out as Ragnarok burst from Crona's back.

"What's the deal, wimp? You finally decide to take my advice and raid the fridge or what?"

"Shhh, Ragnarok, I heard something strange." Crona whispered.

Ragnarok gave a slight chuckle. "Oooo! Maybe it's the big scary boogeyman." He waved his arms slightly, in a mocking fashion, while continuing his rant. "I swear, you're such a pussy, I can't even-"

_CRASH._ The noise came like sudden thunder, breaking Ragnarok's rant.

"Okay, I'll admit, that's a little weird." Ragnarok let out, somewhat flustered as Crona cautiously inched his way down the steps of the dark house. Once he reached the bottom of the steps, he peered around the corner, gazing into the darkened front room, lit only by a few streams of moonlight from the outside. He definitely didn't know how to deal with what he saw next.

Scuttering about, knocking and destroying furniture, was a large, white, ant-like creature, with strange appendages forming a sort of armor around it's more vulnerable inner exoskeleton.

"It's like a gigantic ant." Ragnarok muttered.

Crona nodded, somewhat spaced out. "A Gigant."

Ragnarok, suddenly annoyed, gave Crona's head a painful noogie. "Is that supposed to be funny?! You're not funny! I'm the one who comes up with the good lines around here and don't you forget it!" The demon sword ranted.

"Ow! Ow! Alright! Alright! Quit it Ragnarok!" Crona groaned. The two suddenly stopping once they noticed the imposing figure of the Gigant standing over them.

"Game time." Ragnarok commented, morphing to sword form in Crona's hand.

Grasping the hilt with one hand, while rubbing his arm nervously with the other, Crona looked up at the creature.

"Um..." he began, unsure of what to do next. "Could you please stop wrecking Professor Stein and Miss Marie's house? I don't think they'd like the mess you're making."

The Gigant simply growled, raising an armor-like appendage that knocked Crona into a nearby wall.

"Got any more bright ideas?" Ragnarok quipped irritatedly.

Ignoring Ragnarok, Crona rose from the ground, raised his sword, and shouted "Screech Alpha!" as a purple burst of energy shot forth, knocking the Gigant back a few feet. It then tilted it's appendages until they combined together, forming a sort of drill-like structure before it began spinning, becoming like some kind of killer top.

Before Crona could react, it spun into him, slicing through skin and sending him hurtling into another wall. A moment of dizziness passed as Crona pushed himself up with one arm, now aware of the blood leaking from his chest and mouth.

Readying for it's next attack Crona chuckled a little to himself at the knowledge of what would happen next. "Hehe..." he smiled madly, "Haven't you heard? My blood...is...BLACK!" He shouted as the drops of blood in the air changed to needles, puncturing the Gigant's armor and holding it in place, stopping it's spinning completely.

Raising his sword, Crona called out "Scream Resonance!" as the tortured wavelengths of both him and Ragnarok's souls synched together, their screams piercing the night. Ragnarok began to glow with a dark purple energy as he became larger and more powerful in Crona's hands. "Screech Gamma!" Crona yelled, another screaming pillar of energy shooting from Ragnarok's mouth, knocking the Gigant back against a wall, it's armor now crumbling. Before it could react, Crona dove forward, slicing and hacking like a madman with his now energized sword until the Gigant was little more than a pile of armor, a monster soul, and a lot of green goo, a large portion of which now covered Crona.

Crona simply stood over the pile, panting as Ragnarok sucked in the soul before powering down, changing back to chibi form.

"Daaaamn" he remarked, clearly impressed "why can't you be this much of a badass all the time?"

Before Crona could respond he turned, hearing the sound of the front door opening and a light switch being flipped as the room lit up, letting Crona see the oblivious figure of Marie Mjolnir, two large brown bags of groceries in each arm, her back turned to Crona.

"You're on your own for this one." Ragnarok spoke internally, before disappearing into Crona.

"Hi Crona, I'm back!" Marie spoke as she turned around, her voice filled with unknowing cheer. "I hope I didn't take too lo-wha?!" She gasped, her mouth dropping open as the groceries she was carrying hit the floor, while she took in the sight of several large craters in the wall, the furniture completely destroyed, and green goo over everything, including Crona.

"Um...Miss Marie..." Crona began sheepishly, his cheeks burning red as he rubbed his arm, trying to wipe away some of the goo soaking his robe. "I think I might've made a mess..."

Before Marie could respond, the two were alerted to the footsteps of Professor Stein walking into the room, absentmindedly rubbing his head after a particularly intense round of bad dreams.

Stein surveyed the damage and the expressions of the other two before coming up with a well reasoned response.

"Hmmm...did I miss something?"

* * *

**There it was, hope you enjoyed, and sorry if it was late. Also, in case you're wondering, the Gigant is also a character from Monotone Princess. Anyways, I'll try to get next chapter done in one week instead of two to make up for my delay. Till then, Ciao!**


	4. Chapter 4

It has been said that nothing exciting ever happens at the theater. That it's just boring people doing nothing interesting in an overdramatic fashion.

Whoever said that would probably feel very differently, watching the two figures posed on the stage at the little theatre in the village of Nebun. On one end of the stage, stood Nals, the Unbreakable Blade, on the other, Death the Kid. Each of these performers had a different fighting style, each fought for different reasons, yet they each had one thing in common, the intent to kill.

For just a moment, they posed, Kid holding each Thompson in his mortal sin stance, Nals holding his blade defensively, the silence between them so tense, that Liz thought for a second that her heart was going to explode (meanwhile, Patty was fantasizing about taking a ride in a kangaroo's pouch, but that's another story). Another second, the silence was almost painful, then, like a sudden explosion, it began.

In a flash, Nals' blade cut through the air, slicing at Kid's mid-section. Kid dodged away from the blade as he attempted to kick Nals in the face, a move Nals blocked with the hilt of his sword, though the force sent him back a few feet, before Kid and Nals dashed toward each other again, their movements becoming hard to keep track of as Nals continued to slash and thrust at Kid, while Kid used Liz and Patty as tonfas, blocking Nals' sword and firing at him while Nals batted the shots away like a tennis player.

Seeing that his tactics weren't working, Kid moved in close and angled Liz at Nals' head before firing, forcing Nals to block with his blade, giving Kid an opening to use Patty to swipe Nals feet out from under him, knocking him to the ground as Kid kicked his sword away, before flipping into the air and raining down a volley of shots on the Unbreakable Blade, leaving a cloud of smoke behind Kid as he returned to the ground.

"That should take care of that." Kid confidently stated, glancing back toward the smoke over his shoulder. The young shinigami stepped towards the edge of the hole left in the stage by his actions."Well, Liz, Patty, now that our work here is done, we should collect his soul and-"

A sound, like water rapidly becoming steam, cut Kid off. A sudden blue glow flashed towards Kid. Reflexively, Kid raised Liz to cover his heart, blocking the source of the glow and causing it to veer off course and slice into Kid's shoulder instead, causing him to draw back in pain. "Kid! Are you okay!" Liz asked with concern. Before Kid could respond, an icy voice resonated throughout the room.

"Your mind is weak, distracted, filled with concerns." The voice stated, as Nals stepped out of the smoke, into the light.

"How could you have survived that attack?" Kid questioned.

"I simply used the belt on my arm to latch around my sword." Nals replied. "From there, it was only a matter of dodging the shots and hiding beneath the stage in order to appear dead, then waiting for you to inevitably try and collect my soul, giving me the perfect opportunity for an attack."

"You've thought of everything." Kid grimly stated.

"I merely learned how to discipline my mind, something you are sadly lacking." Nals responded. "Now my blade!" Nals called out, holding his blade high in the air, as it began glow blue again. "Soul slicer!" He yelled, thrusting his blade forward, again at Kid's heart.

As before, Kid raised Liz to block Nals' blade, but this time, instead of bouncing off the top of the gun, the blade instead hooked on Liz's trigger guard in mid swing, pulling her from Kid's grip and flinging her offstage.

"Liz!" Kid yelled, before being met by a kick to the hand from Nals, also knocking Patty from his grip.

Before Nals could move in to strike again, he received a palm strike from Kid, knocking him back a few feet. Kid stood, panting, taking his best fighting stance, aware of the blood leaking from his shoulder wound.

"So, even weaponless you still have some fight left in you. That's admirable, but, ultimately, futile." Nals charged forward, avoiding Kid's best efforts to block him as he kicked Kid in the face, before stabbing him with the hot blade through the abdomen, as Nals brought his blade sideways, knocking Kid from the tip and into a nearby pillar, a sickening crash following as a crater was left in the pillar.

Kid crawled from the crushed pillar toward the center stage, pushing down with his hands in an attempt to stand. "You..." Kid struggled, panting, pain and fatigue filling his voice. "You think...that...your egotistic quest for personal empowerment...justifies your monstrous actions. Disgusting."

"Hmph." Nals scoffed, raising his sword. "Spare me your lectures. I merely did what others seek to do. Improvement through willpower. The only difference is, I actually succeeded."

Kid closed his eyes as Nals raised his blade, preparing for the killing stroke.

_Bam. _That single sound punctured the air. Kid opened his eyes. A moment earlier, he'd been expecting death, now he was met with the confusing sight of a swordless Nals holding a smoking hand in pain. Alerted by a second trail of smoke, Kid glanced offstage to see the youngest Thompson, holding Liz and looking like she meant business.

"Interesting tactic, I applaud your use of teamwork." Nals complimented, a cold grin spreading across his face. "However..." In a move almost lightning quick, Nals whipped one of the belts wrapped around his arm into his palm. "Once I retrieve my sword, I'm afraid you will be my next targets."

Filled with worry, beads of sweat began to decorate Kid's forehead, while Patty kept her tough-as-nails expression. Suddenly, she pointed Liz toward the ceiling.

"Jump Kid!" She yelled.

Realizing Patty's plan, Kid quickly swept Nals' leg out from under him, before diving offstage. The confused Nals attempted to stand, while hearing four more shots ring out. As he scrambled to his feet, he looked up to see the sight of the stage's lights bearing down on him. In a split second move, Nals jumped to the side of the stage as the lights fell with a crash, the sound of broken wood and metal filling the air.

Before long, the sound had cleared as Nals stepped back toward the stage. Examining the rubble left from the fight, despite the now darker lighting, Nals quickly located his sword. Rather than retrieve it immediately, Nals let out a small, contented sigh, taking in the smell of dust and shattered bulbs.

Kid and the Thompsons were long gone. Nals had failed to finish the job, yet he'd met someone worthy of his attention. This would be perfect opportunity to prove his skill. Everything else was unimportant.

Setting his mind back to the task at hand, Nals whipped his belt around the hilt of his sword, before hurrying out of the theater. The performance, now over.

Now, you could argue that neither Kid nor Nals really won. You could argue that Nals was clearly the victor. But the winner no one could argue over, was the theater. This was a very exciting night for it.

* * *

**And that is that chapter. Sorry if I took longer than I said I would. Writer's block is such a pain. Anyways, next chapter will feature a bit of SoMa interaction, so fingers crossed on hoping I can capture their dynamic just right. It should be finished in about two weeks, ciao till then! :)**


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